Are you a small business owner with a minimal marketing budget? If so, you may need to consider attempting a few tried and true guerrilla marketing strategies. What is guerrilla marketing? It’s the use of your imagination and personal energy to construct unconventional marketing campaigns on a budget. The object is to do something unique while gaining the attention of your target market. Now sure how to get started? Here are a few guerrilla marketing strategies that are still effective today.
Give Away Free Products
We’re not talking free samples. We’re talking free, full-fledged products. Run a contest promoting your products or services and choose a small handful of winners. The amount of money you make from people who buy after not winning or from word-of-mouth referrals will usually outweigh the money you’ve spent giving a little away.
Local newspapers and radio stations love to tell their audience about such giveaways so you may be able to get a lot of free exposure in a short period of time.
Try to Get Celebrity Endorsements
Everything Oprah touches turns to gold, right? That’s because people trust and respect her opinion. Celebrities are often paid big bucks for endorsements, but others will simply try or wear products because they’ve been given to them. Send your product to a handful of celebrities (or local celebrities) and see if you can get them to help with a little bit of high-profile promotion.
Host an Educational Luncheon
In some industries, “Lunch and Learn” events are becoming incredibly popular. Target some of the businesses you’d like to do business with, contact them, and offer to bring them lunch in exchange for the time to give a short, educational seminar about what you do. Limit the time slot you are asking for to approximately 1 hour and try to give general information about your services as opposed to filling the time with promotions. People and businesses who feel educated about the services you are offering are more likely to make a purchase than those who feel they’re stepping into the unknown.
Review Competitor Coupons
Are you a local retail store? Do you have a lot of competition from other retailers? Spend some time reviewing the coupons and sale ads your competitors put out each week. Let your own customers know that you’ll honor your competitor’s prices. This will encourage your customers to continue shopping with you even though others may be offering different or lower prices. You’ll never have to worry about the competition stealing your business.
Be Unique — Be YOU!
So many businesses seem to do the exact same things their competitors are doing… this is boring! Instead, use your own creativity to put your own “spin” on what you believe to be a successful marketing campaign.
Don’t be afraid to think outside of the box!
Your local business needs as much offline attention as it does online. Do something creative and you’ll be amazed at the outcome. You won’t have to blow your annual budget to see results.
